Layering Historical Maps and Census Data for Interactive Visualizations in HistoryForge

HistoryForge (https://historyforge.net) is a web application that combines information from U.S. Census records, historical maps, and other records in an interactive framework of human and spatial relationships that illustrate what communities looked like and how they evolved over time. It generates an environment that invites a study of local history at the levels of neighborhood, family, and individual. HistoryForge is being developed using open source software so that any community can adopt it to explore their own local history and add archival material. This paper will describe the project's development, growing potential for enriching records with archival material, and its current implementation in four different communities. The rapid development of the last year has been supported by a two-year grant from the Public Engagement with Historical Records from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission of the National Archives.